Pham Ngoc Thao

Pham Ngoc Thao (1922-1965) was an undercover Viet Minh agent who played a major role in the 1963 South Vietnamese coup, only to be executed after attempting to lead another coup in 1965.

Biography
Pham Ngoc Thao was born in French Indochina in 1922 to a Catholic family, and he became a communist officer in the Viet Minh during the First Indochina War and served as commander to Nguyen Khanh, his future enemy, during the fighting in the Mekong Delta. After the French withdrawal from South Vietnam, Thao publicly renounced communism, although he remained a sleeper agent for the communists. He quickly rose in the ranks of the Southern military establishment and became chief of Ben Tre Province, turning it into a peaceful and prosperous region. He went on to participate in the 1963 South Vietnamese coup against Ngo Dinh Diem and took part in several intrigues and coup plots against the military government, attempting to oust Khanh from power. However, his coup failed and he was murdered while in hiding due to a bounty being placed on his head.